


Lightning Never Strikes Twice

by HenryMars



Series: Commish!! [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: F/M, OCs - Freeform, This was my first commission and The idea to post my commission just came to me, commission, so enjoy this im not proofreading it again
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-30
Updated: 2019-07-30
Packaged: 2020-07-27 03:23:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,966
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20039116
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HenryMars/pseuds/HenryMars
Summary: Lightning never strikes the same place twice. And neither did Seraphina Amorelli. Not in the three-hundred years she's been alive.





	Lightning Never Strikes Twice

**Author's Note:**

> This was the first commission I've ever written, for my friend TayBae. I've been in love with her characters back before they went by these new names, back when we roleplayed constantly. She's rad as plaid and she even has an Instagram!! Check her stuff out @lovingcelestials
> 
> My Infrequent Twitter: @marstonland  
My Less Active Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/henrymars

Seraphina Amorelli sighs in despair and resignation, staring out the window and watching the storm outside. She had lost interest in her phone hours ago and now resorts to watching the rain fall as they make their way across the United States. Seems like today reflects her mood: stormy, grey-washed, and hard to focus on.

Lucius Amorelli -- her father and today’s designated driver -- catches her brooding in the rear-view mirror.

“What’s wrong, sunshine?”

Lightning strikes outside; a world she’s always wanted to be in, the only place she’s never been: the scene of a lightning strike. She’s lived a good while -- twenty-four for the two-hundred and eighty-fourth time -- and due to their constant moving, she’s seen every inch of this country, from (ick)  _ Florida _ to Oklahoma to Nevada, Montana....Alabama...Alaska at one point, which she adored playing in the snow in what would be a dead-ass hot summer anywhere else (such a nice twist on a typical summer vacation). She’s seen all kinds of storms and disasters: The Great Chicago Fire, the Tri-State Tornado, the Spirit Lake Tsunami in Washington.

She’s always felt some sort of connection to lightning; after all -- much like her and her family, it’s never in the same place twice.

“Angel?”

Seraphina looks away from the window and into the reflection of her father’s green eyes in the mirror.

“Yeah?”

“Everything okay?”

She shrugs. “I guess…’m just tired of moving.”

Lucius looks back at the road, masking whatever emotions that could be revealed in his gaze. “I know, pumpkin, but when...when you don’t age and your lifespan has no natural limit, you have to be careful the unsuspecting population doesn’t catch on, or else we’d be leaving home under...much less calm pretenses.”

“Yeah, but this is the third time this  _ decade _ we moved!” Seraphina points out in a frustrated burst, forcing herself to keep her volume down in case she wakes her twin brother Tymber, who is passed out in the back seat. “We don’t usually move unless there’s hunters or it’s been twenty-ish years. I really liked it there! Aspirations was…just...” She folds her arms and pouts, almost collapsing back against the seat as her energy from her outburst dwindles. She watches the outside scenery whiz by in a blur of roadside greenery and distance.

“I liked it there,” she repeats quietly.

Lucius glances back at her again, but she had gone back to looking out the window, her face a complex mix of emotions. He sighs, and keeps his eyes on the road.

\--

_ It’s always because of a boy. When isn’t it? Sure, the neighbors were great and stuff, as well as the coworkers and friends she’d made along the way, but...nothing held a candle to Theodoric Harris. Not in her mind. _

_ Black hair, baby-blue eyes, and a soft smile. A scar across the bridge of his slightly-crooked nose, evidence of a scrappy punk-type. That’s how she remembered him best. She always did have a thing for the bad boys. “Misunderstood youth”, said most therapists, without taking the time to try and understand them. In many cases, she was over twice -- hell, why skimp, six times -- their age, but she had always made an effort to get to know them. Most of them weren’t all that hardcore. They had a soft side, a kinder side. A side she could appeal to and bring out so the world could see what she saw, what she fell in love with -- or at least a strong attachment towards. _

_ Unceremoniously, they met when she was walking in the park, a cliché as he asked for her name and number and a hope that, maybe, they’d see each other later. And of course, she amused him; he’s cute, and young, and perhaps would make either a good meal or a good timekiller. Try as she might, most humans fell under these two categories. _

_ Of course, pining wasn’t something she’d expected from this. Loving someone wasn’t a thought she could maintain, being what she is, what she does, and how she lives. He took her places, locally of course; he wasn’t a wealthy man and she had to be careful about her currency, considering some of the money she had dated back to her days before she was afflicted with vampirism. Decent dinners, movies at his place, surprise visits at each others’ jobs...Seraphina had to admit, this casually dating thing was nice. _

_ Seraphina can still feel the first time they kissed, two months into...well, she probably could define it as a relationship by then. Theodoric was dropping her off at home after another nice evening, and...it just happened. The slow uncertainty of leaning in, the quickening pulse -- more from him than her, since she was technically dead, but she could imagine her sluggish blood moved a little faster within her veins -- the tender pressing of lips in the way that first kisses betwixt lovers seems to go. It wasn’t electric, there were no “flying sparks”; it was more like a building heat washing over her, originating from one point and bathing her inside and out in a soft, encompassing glow. Dimly she was aware of her surroundings; the not-so-clean archway of a beige two-story home, with cobwebs strung in the high corners and bugs buzzing against the porch light switched on above, with the dusty dirty pale-green door pressing against her back. Or...was it blue? Like his eyes? She supposed insignificant details like that didn’t matter, ultimately. _

_ They separated, golden eyes she convinced others were hazel staring into the sweetest pair of blue eyes she’s ever known. His hand was tangled in her rose-gold locks, cupping the back of her head. Her hands gripped the collar of his shirt. They were both willing captives as she kissed him again. _

_ Time had never moved so slow, stretching that moment into a blissful eternity. She wasn’t sure the last time she had taken something like this so carefully and seriously. Maybe before she had been turned, back in Italy? Maybe before in the early days of her vampirism where everything felt renewed and vibrant as she was still adjusting to her new senses. Maybe...back during her first and only marriage, with a man that maybe now she can think of without bursting into tears. That man had taught her so much about life, love...her own naivete, her immortality. He made her realize exactly how short-lived a human life is compared to something like her, just by living and having her next to him as he aged into a shell of how he used to be. _

_ Theo might be another  _ him _ , or he’ll be just another fleeting distraction from the rest of time. Really, isn’t it all the same when you had a lifespan like hers? _

_ \-- _

_ A day later, Seraphina met Allondra, someone her oldest brother Dederick had met and fallen in love with. He revealed then that she was expecting their child, and they were planning to be wed. She was delighted for her, but she couldn’t help the twinge of jealousy resonating inside her heart, because this meant Dederick was likely staying forever while the rest of the family inevitably moved off to some other corner of the country. Things were going so well with her and Theo; the thought of moving preemptively crushed her spirits. Her only solace was that day was far off, and even that was dimmed by the fear that any day now her dad would decide to up and leave and Sera would be helpless to stand up to him. Usually they stayed many years in a city; lately they’ve been moving at the drop of a hat. _

Think positively _ , she told herself, alone in her room as she prepared for bed.  _ Maybe this time would be different. Maybe this time, we’ll stay.

\--

_ Six days later, Lucius broke the news that within the month they’ll be moving to Idaho. Seraphina cried. _

_ \-- _

_ In the end, she wasn’t strong enough, wasn’t  _ brave _ enough, to tell Theodoric. She made up for it by treating every day like it was her last day with him; with renewed interest, renewed vigor. He became her entire world every day, and while Theo was suspicious at first, he grew to accept it. He did not ask questions. _

_ The first and only time she told him she loved him was on that final day, kissing goodnight in front of her house. For a moment, she almost invited him in, invited him to her room, invited him into making the night memorable for a lifetime. In the end, she couldn’t; her room was already packed up and the van all set to take off at dawn. Instead, she settled for holding his cheek, whispering,  _ “I love you,” _ and silencing him with a kiss. She couldn’t hear him say it back. Her resolve would break if he did. _

_ \-- _

_ So much was left unsaid. So much was left undone. Seraphina watched as they passed by the bits of her life she had spent in this town. She watched their first kiss as they pulled out of the driveway. She watched Theodoric spill ice cream down his shirt when he was too busy laughing at something she said. She watched as he introduced her to his best friend, she watched their first movie date. She watched him visit her on her break and vice versa. She watched their first night together in the park with only the stars as a witness to what they’ve done. _

_ Lightning never strikes twice. And neither did she. _

_ Seraphina watched as they passed the sign to leave town and could see the colors dim as if leaving a technicolor bubble. Her phone started to buzz a few hours later. Text messages from Theo, asking what had happened, where was she, why was her house empty. She didn’t answer. He started calling her, leaving voicemails in a tone of voice that broke her already-aching heart. He wanted an explanation too dangerous for her to confess. He wanted answers she couldn’t articulate without garbling the speech through sobs. After a few days, he finally stopped. The last voicemail she received contained a resignation so excruciating that she almost did call him back to explain everything. _

_ She controlled herself. Against every voice in her head yelling at her to talk to him, she resisted. _

Kinder to be cruel, _ she tried to convince herself.  _ Like a band-aid: painful but quick. Like every other human.

_ Somehow, she still wasn’t sure. _

_ \-- _

“...Dederick got to stay. Why couldn’t I?” she asks after another few moments of tense silence.

“Dederick is old enough to take care of himself-”

“Dad, I am three-hundred and eight years old!!” Seraphina shouts, leaning forward to glare into the mirror where Lucius once again looks away from to avoid meeting her gaze. “I am  _ well _ past adulthood for humanity, vampires,  _ and _ ghouls. I can take care of myself-”

“You’re still young and a member of this coven-”

“Dederick. Got. To.  _ Stay _ .”

“Dederick has a fiancée  _ and _ a child on the way.”

Every answer Lucius gave was in a curt and matter-of-fact in tone. It was really starting to piss Seraphina off.

“So? What about Terence? When we left Lewiston a century ago, you let  _ him _ stay with that one French Fae lady! The only real significance she held was that my brother finally lost his virginity at four-hundred years old!”

“Well you know what?”

Lucius turns the wheel sharply, pulling off the highway. Seraphina feels the bottom of her stomach dissolve, because when the car finally stops, Lucius whirls around in his seat to meet her eyes, green with golden, and what she sees is fury, sorrow, and compassion burning holes into her.

“Dederick and Terence can do whatever the  _ hell _ they want to do because not only do they have a couple centuries’ worth of experience on you, but also they are  _ not. My. Children. _ I share no  _ link  _ with either of them except through the woman who gave birth to them.  _ You, _ Seraphina, are  _ my _ child.  _ Tymber _ is my child. And until you  _ prove _ you can be responsible enough to take care of yourself, avoiding suspicion and hunters, I can’t  _ risk _ letting the two most precious people in my life out of my sight for that long.”

Tears prick both pairs of eyes. Lucius sighs and wipes his face, still trying to look strong.

“I liked it there too, my angel. He was like a son to me as much as he was a soulmate to you. I’m sorry.”

Seraphina sits back in the chair once more, kneading her lip between her fangs. She hates this. She hates this so much. She understands, but that doesn’t make her accept it any more. She can’t say anything in reply, and that’s the worst part; her protests get caught in her throat because her father showing such love so intensely makes her helpless to argue any further as her throat closes up in a reciprocal amount of love.

No more words are exchanged. No more protests, no more arguing. Lucius faces forward again, takes the van out of park, and resumes the journey across America.

\--

A year passes, and an invitation arrives in the mail. Seraphina squeals in delight when she sees the gold-trimmed envelope and rushes inside to break the good news to her father and brother.

“ _ You are cordially invited to the wedding of Dederick Amorelli and Allondra Jimenez in Saint James’s Cathedral, Aspirations, California, on Thursday, November Twentieth at noon local time.” _

Regret and guilt still clutches her heart whenever she thinks of that town, of him. She does more often than she’d like to admit, although less and less as the days pass by does the thought make her weep and mope. In fact, seeing the invitation makes her more eager for the wedding than the possibility of seeing him again.

Of course, they purchase plane tickets immediately, scheduling a week in that northern California town. Seraphina throws herself into working, into  _ life _ , with a recharged vigor.

And she counts the days til she can see Aspirations again.

\--

When they arrive in Aspirations, every emotion she’s ever felt in this town hits her like a gut-punch. The wind is knocked out of her and she curls up in the backseat. Tears stain the leather below her, and she doesn’t know what to feel for several minutes.

\--

The old house looks as it did back then: two stories, beige, cobwebs and bugs. Door as pale as a jade stone. It looks cleaner, however, the exterior pressure-washed and repainted. The insides as well; tile replaced ratty carpet, furniture rearranged. Her old room is in the process of transforming into a nursery. Seraphina finds herself crashing on the couch, tapping through her phone late at night until she realizes she’s been staring at  _ his _ number for ten minutes, indecision and anxiety holding her insides in a vice grip.

And then she can’t stand it anymore. She gets up and sneaks outside for a walk. The late fall air hits her lungs, feeling like a spring breeze to her frigid body. Her feet take her to the park. Her mind takes her there as well, but a year prior, where she first met him.

_ “Excuse me, miss, but I’m afraid I need your help with something.” _

_ “Uh, yeah, sure, everything okay?” _

_ “My phone is one number shy of sixty-nine contacts, and you seem like the kind of gal who would agree that is a tragedy in this day and age. May I have your name and number to remedy this?” _

_ “What a disaster indeed. Although, cute stuff, if you wanted my number, you didn’t have to make a dumb play at me. I’m new in town and could use a nice piece of arm candy to help show me around. Here…” _

Seraphina stops abruptly as something warm -- hot, even -- sweep her off her feet into a hug so tight and intense the fake breath is whipped away like the ground beneath her.

“I can’t believe it’s you!”

Sera could melt into that voice, could dissolve into his embrace. When she regains her bearings and feels the path again, she looks up.

Blue eyes and black hair, scar across the bridge of a crooked nose. She feels happiness blossom in her chest, heat pricking her eyes and she realizes she’s crying.

“Th-Theo…?”

He’s choking on words, trying to say something. Seraphina is dumbstruck as well. The odds of this are astronomical; her first day back, her first night out, and she meets him again in the same place she first saw him. Her throat closes up.

“Sera...I...Dederick told me, but…”

That unclogs the dam of words.

“Dederick told you what?”

“He told me what happened last year, about why you left.” He hesitates, but he continues anyways. “Sera, I was...I was so mad last year, so upset. You...I  _ hated _ you for leaving like that. You told me you loved me, and then you’re gone before I can tell you the same? No note, no call. No reply. I was  _ heartbroken, _ Sera. I felt like I  _ died _ . And then Dederick ran into me a few months ago. He told me about...well, everything. And then I felt  _ so shitty _ for hating you because I understand how it feels to be hunted. And trust me -- Aspirations is one of the safest places to live.”

Seraphina stares at Theodoric. She wants to ask...but she doesn’t. Not now. Instead, she pulls him down into a kiss that tastes of tears and reunion and joy. It tastes like a lightning strike, a rush. It tastes like finding a home, somewhere she finally belongs.

And it’s the best thing she’s ever tasted.


End file.
